Plagiarism/Remake Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim & Moby An animation shows the changing channels on a television screen. It stops on the Dr. Bill Show, where a robot named Dr. Bill is interviewing Moby. DR. BILL: We're back with best-selling author and probable sociopath, Moby Calrissian. Robots in the show's audience boo Moby. DR. BILL: Your recent book report on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was largely stolen from online sources. Is there anything you'd like to say to the American public? Robots in the audience boo Moby again. Moby covers his face and cries. The animation shifts to show Moby bolting upright in bed. It is the middle of the night. Tim turns on the bedside light. MOBY: Beeeeeep! TIM: Another nightmare, huh? Moby cowers under his covers. TIM: Maybe you just need to get something off your chest. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I know plagiarism is cheating, but sometimes it's hard to tell if I'm actually breaking the rules. Can you help me out? From, Moira. Moby stands beside Tim. TIM: Of course we can, Moira. Plagiarism is the act of submitting someone else’s work as your own. You're never allowed to use the words or ideas of other people without giving them credit. This rule applies to all subjects and classes. It doesn't matter if you're doing a science project, a book report, or even making a piece of art. Three examples appear on the screen. The first is a graph with several lines on it, the second is an outline for a book report, and the third is Moby holding up a painting of the Mona Lisa. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, some instances of plagiarism are pretty obvious. Say you have to write a report on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. An animation shows the words "the lion, the witch and the wardrobe" being typed into the search field of a website called Griff's Notes. TIM: You go online and find a great resource with lots of cool ideas about the book. A summary of the book appears. Text from the summary is copied and pasted into a Word document titled "My Report on 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' by Moby Calrissian." TIM: If you copy some of the text form the site and paste it into your own paper, then hand it in just like that, well, that’s a pretty clear violation. A giant red uppercase letter "F" appears over the paper and a buzzer sounds to indicate that a person would fail that assignment. MOBY: Beep! TIM: Yup, stealing from any type of source and claiming it as your own work is always plagiarism. That source could be a book, an article, an old paper your sister wrote . . . anything! Tim's report on To Kill a Mockingbird sits on a desk. Moby tapes his name on it, covering Tim's. A giant red uppercase letter "F" appears over the report and a buzzer sounds. MOBY: Beep? TIM: When teachers give you assignments, they don't want you to just repeat and recap exisiting material, or stuff you find online. They're trying to assess your understanding of the topics you're studying. And see how well you can put your own original thoughts into writing. An animation shows Moby handing in his plagiarized report to the teacher. The teacher then hands the report back to him with a red uppercase letter "F" on it. TIM: Plagiarizing someone else is like cheating off of them on a test. Get caught, and you'll probably get a 100 on the assignment. An animation shows two boys seated in a classroom, one behind the other. One looks over the other's shoulder as they take a test. The teacher is standing nearby watching, and she clears her throat to alert him to her presence. TIM: Or, if you're lucky, your teacher might let you rewrite it. In high school and college, punishments for plagiarism can be even more severe. You might pass the entire class, not to mention kicked out of school completely. Images show a boy with a report card appears with a frown on his face. The report card shows that he failed English. Another image of the boy shows him getting kicked off of a college campus. MOBY: Beep? TIM: It's not that you could use magazines, books, encyclopedias, or their online versions. An image shows a book titled The Writings of C.S. Lewis, a magazine about adapting the book for screen, and the Griff's Notes website. TIM: In fact, it's a good idea to consult all of those sources when doing papers and projects. But if you use someone else's words verbatim—that meaning the exact same words—you need to put them in quotation marks. And you have to attribute, or give credit, to the author. The first sentence of the Griff's Notes summary is copied and pasted into Moby's report. He puts the line in quotation marks. TIM: One of the easiest ways to do this is to use phrases like, "According to..." and then add the name of your source right after. In Moby's report, the phrase "According to Griff's Notes critic Susan Crosby" is added before the quotation. TIM: Depending on the subject, teacher or type of assignment, you might need to use footnotes or endnotes, too. Those are more formal ways to credit your sources. Footnotes show sources at the bottom of a page. And endnotes list them after a specific section or at the conclusion of your report. A superscript number 8 appears at the end of the quotation in Moby's report. One image shows the matching footnote at the bottom of the page, where it lists the source as "Crosby, p. 15." Another image shows the source listed in the endnotes. TIM: Sometimes you might also be required to put together a bibliography. That's a comprehensive list of all the works you consulted while researching an assignment. An image shows a bibliography page. The source is listed as "Crosby, Susan. Griff's Notes on C.S. Lewis. 26 Jul 2017." MOBY: Beep? TIM: I was just getting to that. Many examples of plagiarism aren’t obvious cut-and-paste jobs. Tim holds up a report with a red uppercase letter "F" on it, and Moby frowns. TIM: Unfortunately, a lot of students wind up plagiarizing by accident! If you're not careful, key ideas from a source can easily slip into your writing. An image shows the Griff's Notes website, with a highlighted sentence. TIM: Like here, the original sentence was "More than a scene-setting element, snow comes to symbol.ize death itself." And you wrote, "Lewis uses the symbol of snow to represent death." An image shows the sentence in Moby's report. TIM: You did a good job of paraphrasing the material, putting it into your own words. But the thing is, you're still using the same basic idea: That Lewis uses snow to symbolize death. MOBY: Beep? TIM: It can be tricky untangling your own ideas from your sources', so when in doubt, give credit! The sentence in Moby's report is shown with an endnote next to it. TIM: There are a few other important tips to guard against plagiarism. When taking notes, put big quotation marks around all direct quotes, even if you’re only keeping a few words. And write the source next to every single note you take, whether it’s a website, book, or article. An animation shows Moby writing the quoted sentence on a note card and places it in quotation marks. He includes the source and page number. TIM: These are pretty straightforward strategies that can help you avoid getting into any trouble. MOBY: Beep? Moby frowns and hands him an electronic tablet. TIM: What?! No way! I totally did NOT lift that from your…uh…Blog. Moby’s blog appears on the tablet screen. A line reads "These are pretty straightforward strategies that can help you avoid getting into any trouble." TIM: Huh. Must've gotten stuck in my head from when I first read it. Tim blushes. MOBY: Beep! Moby crosses his arms and frowns. TIM: It was so not on purpose! A giant red uppercase letter "F" appears on the screen and a buzzer sounds to indicate that Tim plagiarized Moby. Tim sighs. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Engineering & Technology Transcripts Category:BrainPOP English Transcripts